Redefining Alignment

“Do you think you know what the word Chaotic means?

Really?

Are you sure?

Care to place a wager…”

– Andy Collins, RPG System Design & Development Manager, Wizards of the Coast R&D

A while back, I got into a discussion over on Andy Collins’ message boards regarding alignment. It was called Redefining Lawfulness, and was created because the Law/Chaos axis of the D&D alignment system is not nearly as well-defined as the Good/Evil side.

Despite the focus on Law/Chaos, I felt the Good/Evil definitions were also very vague, and far too wordy. So pretty early on in the discussion, I proposed a new set of simple, yet complete, definitions for all four axes. I’ll be using these as my own guidelines when alignment questions come up in my new game that’s starting soon, and I’m going to share them with you now.

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Decemberween Presents!

What do you mean I didn’t post what I said I would? You’re just blind. They’re there, I swear… geez, what do I need to do to get a distraction around here.

Well, non-specific politically-correct seasonal holiday has passed. I hope everyone had fun.

I got a great geeky gift from my fiancee, as shown to the right. (Click the image for big-ass version.)

Yep, those are the Gargantuan Blue and Black Dragons from D&D minis. And the stickers are from one of our favourite webcomics (and one of the most geeky webcomics I know of), XKCD. They say “Actual Size”, and are meant for sticking on anything from 8-inch concert fliers with the band’s picture, to 30-foot tall inflatable coke cans, to airline ads at the bus stop with 3-foot 747’s on them.

One is on the black dragon already. I’m going to have fun with these. 😀

Normal posts should follow soon, including campaign prep and my rumoured post on investigations.

Throwing/Returning – a Variant

Image Credit: Green Ronin’s Hammer and Helm.

One of the more fun and flavourful enchantments for a weapon in D&D is the ability to take a normal weapon and make it a throwing weapon. Battleaxes, Longswords, hell even Greatswords. There is little scarier than a huge piece of metal flying at you.

But while it’s fun, it’s ultimately not that useful, and doesn’t increase the effectiveness of a weapon by a whole lot. It doesn’t alleviate the need for a bow, as the range on Throwing weapons sucks. Usually, it just means you don’t need to reach for a dagger to hit a flying enemy.

Add to that the fact that the Throwing property is almost never used on its own, and we have ourselves a small set of rules that need a rewrite.

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Killer, Cyborg Ogre Ninja

Holy crap! I’m actually posting things!

That’s right, exams are finished for the semester, so expect a few posts from me this week.

This one is going to be very crunch-oriented, and mostly to prove a point. But watch later this week for something on adventure design, and adventure prep as I get ready for my group’s next game.

Okay, so over on ChattyDM‘s message board, the “complaints” section is staffed by a Cyborg Ogre Ninja named Killer. Of course, this resulted in people statting him up, including Phil himself.

So what point am I trying to prove? Simple.

I can make a better Cyborg Ogre Ninja than him.

Or, more accurately, d20 Modern can make a better Cyborg Ogre Ninja than D&D.

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Away in a Dungeon…

Well, I’ve been kept busy these past few days, what with the semester ending and finals coming up. Expect more from us in the future, once things settle down.

Though I did manage to get one big thing accomplished this weekend. Our christmas decorations are up. And they are slightly geeky.

For instance, this is our wreath:

Yes, those shiny bits are what you think they are. Click the image for a larger view, if it’s difficult to tell.

But we aren’t the only ones geeking out at politically-correct-generic-holiday time. Behold, from For Tax Reasons, unrelenting christmas nerdery!

IM IN UR MANGER KILLING UR SAVIOR

Cold? What is this cold you speak of?

So I’m in Winnipeg, central Canada (hence the “Aboot” link above).

It is winter. It is currently -20 C out (somewhere around -4 F).

And I’m thirsty. So what do I do?

(Not actual size.)

No matter the season, the only true way to recognise a Winnipegger is by the size of the Slurpee in his hand.

Giant Mutant Fire Clams!!!

Well, it’s been nearly a week since my last/first post, and I figured I should post something else. So, inspired by a conversation with Phil, here’s a bit of fun crunch that I’ve been meaning to put together for a while.

Now, if you were to ask someone what the worst RPG they’ve ever heard of is, you’d get a variety of answers. From those that actively read (or even write themselves) reviews of bad games, you’re likely to hear one of the following four:

• The World of Synnibarr
• SenZar
• Wraeththu
• F.A.T.A.L.

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Critical Hits – a Variant

So Phil, the ChattyDM, chronicles a battle over at his site wherein he forgot about a plant creature’s critical hit immunity, and let it slide as a “nice DM” bonus.

Dave: the Game commented on it

See??? Even DMs who know the rules forwards and backwards forget this rule. Cast thee out, I say! Critical Hits for all!

and I began a mini-rant, which I shall continue here.

The way I figure it, plants, oozes and constructs are a minority of what we fight in D&D. The only crit-immunes that are very common are undead.

But most undead, IMHO, should be crittable anyways. Has nobody seen the lucky headshot in a zombie movie? Or the stake to the heart in a Buffy episode? With the possible exception of skeletons and incorporeal undead, most undead are shown as having more damaging areas.

So why not allow crits for everything?

And don’t say to balance rogues. A rogue’s job is to get in, strike quick, and do good damage. Crit-immunes don’t balance rogues, they nerf rogues for that encounter. Same as a golem’s magic immunity does to casters.

Now, being useless for an encounter is no fun.

Similarly, scoring a natural 20 (ankle bite or not), and not being able to use it, is also no fun.

Yet for some reason, some people don’t want to throw out crit-immune creatures altogether. So it seems a house-rule compromise is necessary.

Well the compromise between crit-immune and nothing is crit-resistant. But we have no mechanic for crit resistance, so that’s what we’re going to need to devise.

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